While reading Chapter 5 of “The Swerve”, one of the things that I had found interesting was how Petrarch wrote to ancient writers. “… he wrote with manic energy. And he responded to the ancient writers as if they were somehow a living part of this network, intimate friends, and family with whom he could share his thoughts” (Page 119). This was interesting to me because most people viewed ancient texts as historical artifacts rather than as personal relationships.It seemed as if Petrarch saw these as authors as conversational partners. Another thing that I found interesting was a quote that Petrarch wrote which states “‘I much prefer that my own style be my own,’ Petrarch wrote, ‘uncultivated and rude, but made to fit, as a garment, to the measure of my mind, rather than to someone else’s, which may be more elegant, ambitious, and adorned, but one that, deriving from a grater genius, continually slips off, unfitted to the humble proportions of my intellect’”. I found this interesting because he talks about the authenticity over the elegance of classical styles, suggesting that true expression comes from a personal connection to one’s own ideas.
A text to world connection I made with this chapter was based on social media creators and Petrarch. Petrarch wrote a lot about using his own voice and liking the style of authenticity and most content creators now do just that. Certain content creators will use their own voices to state opinions on different situations.
One question I have on this chapter is, did the rediscovery of Lucretius’s On the Nature of Things influence the Renaissance?
